The Commuter Tax on Kent Residents
After intense pressure from local business owners, the Puget Sound Electric Railway company finally equalized the round-trip ticket prices for passengers traveling from Kent to Tacoma.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Through pressure brought to bear by different interests, the discrimination which the Puget Sound Electric Railway company has shown in favor of Seattle as against Tacoma has ceased. The round trip rate from Kent to Tacoma has been reduced from 70 cents to 60 cents, the new rate taking effect yesterday. Kent is six miles further from Tacoma than it is from Seattle, and the rate of fare from Kent to this terminus had been out of all proportion to the difference in distance. The round trip rate from Kent to Seattle was 50 cents, and from Kent to Tacoma 70 cents. Because of the unjust discrimination, Tacoma merchants had been losers, as Kent people traveled to Seattle to trade. The Chamber of Commerce and Kent citizens forced the company's hand, despite Manager Dimmock's claims that Kent residents would never prefer Tacoma over Seattle.
“Because of the unjust discrimination in the rate, Tacoma merchants have been losers to a considerable extent because Kent people have gone to Seattle to trade.”
Transit inequity remains a persistent regional issue, as commuters today continue to navigate the often lopsided costs of travel between Pierce and King Counties. The story illustrates that access to markets is rarely a neutral economic choice; it is a battleground of infrastructure, geography, and local boosterism.
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